Literacy

The best of the Texas Standard and Texas Newsroom in 2025 

This holiday season, we’ve been listening back to some of the most compelling reporting by our in-house journalists here at the Texas Standard, as well as a team of public media reporters statewide known as The Texas Newsroom.  

From an effort to help more adults complete a high school education, to a mystery Bible in Boerne, to the long-awaited launch of a new college football team in the Rio Grande Valley, you’re in for a treat on this special edition of the Texas Standard.   

Houston startup eyes two-hour flights across the Pacific

The 89th Legislature is history. We’ll look at what lawmakers accomplished and what was left to do.
We continue our series on an adult literacy program in Texarkana that does much more than help people get an education – and why it could be a model for other parts of the state.
A Houston-based aerospace company successfully tests a hypersonic engine and hopes to one day fly passengers from the U.S. to Asia in just two hours.
And: Popular images of gunslingers are pretty on target, according to the new book “The Gunfighters: How Texas Made the West Wild.”

Texas Standard is a listener-supported production of KUT & KUTX Studios in Austin, Texas.

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As Texas ranks near the bottom in high school attainment, a Texarkana nonprofit has a solution

Texas lawmakers have approved additional funding for public schools, including more money for teachers.
Some San Antonio school districts have found a way to help struggling students catch up following the pandemic. What can we learn from those efforts?
Texas ranks near the bottom when it comes to adults with a high school education. As the Standard’s Sarah Asch reports, a literacy program in Texarkana offers a solution.
Despite headline-grabbing moves by companies like Tesla and Oracle, tech employment in Texas’ biggest cities is slipping.
And: Global oil production is ramping up. What that means for summer travel.

Franklin C. Edwards (Ep. 9, 2024)

On this edition of In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with Franklin C. Edwards, author, publisher and owner of Franklin The Helper Children’s Books in Plano, Texas, whose mission is to help children overcome social obstacles and build self-confidence.

Carmen Bogan (Ep. 26, 2022)

John L. Hanson, Jr. discusses the importance of advancing literacy among children of color with Carme Bogan, founder of Dream On Publishing and author of Where’s Rodney?, the story of an African American boy’s transformative day out in nature. This week, on In Black America,.

Larry “Lak” Henderson and Capone (Ep. 10, 2021)

This week on In Black America, producer and host John L. Hanson, Jr. speaks with Larry “Lak” Henderson, known as The Hip Hop Educator and founder and CEO of Smart Music Entertainment, along with legendary rapper Capone, who have recently collaborated on a new brand called SmartThug, which uses hip hop as an educational tool.

Texas Standard: June 25, 2018

Are Texas election maps racially gerrymandered, designed to dilute minority vote? It’s a case that’s been 7 years in the making: a challenge to Texas’ redistricting maps claiming that when those lines were drawn, the intent was racially discriminatory, Unconstitutional. A lower court agreed with the plaintiffs, but today the US supreme court overturned that ruling in all but one district. What does this decision really mean? Who’s affected? And what does this mean for the midterms if anything?
That’s just our top story on this Monday, but we’ve got a whole lot more today on the Texas Standard:

You Talk White (Ep. 1)

Delve into the history of the “black southern dialect” and hear about the insecurities and expectations when speaking in white or intellectual spaces. DaLyah and Jackie discuss the shaming that comes from friends and family when not speaking “black” enough. Their guest is the author of “Sista, Speak! Black Women Kinfolk Talk About Language and Literacy,” Dr. Sonja L. Lanehart.

Texas Standard: February 14, 2017

Stormy weather across much of Texas today. Maybe a good time to tap the state’s rainy day fund? Lawmakers are talking about it, and so are we. Plus, what’s in a label? Or on it, to be more precise. We’ll tell you why some of the state’s wineries are pushing a bill to be pickier about what ‘Texas-made’ really means. And the fight against fake news could start in the school library. We talk to a Texan on the front lines. Plus the Texas French connection? A journalist from across the Atlantic tells us what he sees reporting from the lone star state. All that and more, coming up on the Texas Standard: